Chapter 1354 - 798: I Am an Ant Who Values Emotion and Loyalty_2

All the insects sighed.

Purple Cicada sighed and said: "Chickpea, you talk."

Chickpea felt miserable. As an interstellar adventurer and a Starship Maintenance Technician Bug, he dreamed night and day of piloting a cool Leader-Level Starship like the Taber Starship, roaming freely through the Universe.

Chickpea was still unwilling to accept it and asked: "Great Leader Dragon Cypress, you're not considering selling the Purple-Red Technology Star Core?"

Dragon Cypress shook his tentacles.

Chickpea said: "Then you can buy the Taber Starship. Name a price."

Dragon Cypress waved his tentacles.

The Artist stood up from his seat. Primordial Energy flowed, the luxurious Armor covering his whole body disassembled and peeled away, then recomposed into a complete set, drifting to hover in front of Upright Lotus.

Dragon Cypress said: "Captain Upright Lotus, Chickpea, you must have heard about 'Red Qu Star', got the idea on the spur of the moment to come to me, and intend to sell your things to me, right? But you may have overlooked or misunderstood a few matters."

Dragon Cypress said: "First, according to proper procedure, my Refinement Ability rating tops out at Level 4. It's only with a Saint Butterfly Tribe Warrior recommending me, helping run around to smooth relationships, that I might possibly get the qualification to enter."

"Insect Clan Warriors are the most realistic intelligent Life in the entire Universe. So‑called friendship, affection, kinship of the same Tribe—all of that is superficial. Without benefits, without entangled interests, who really knows whom? So‑called friends are just people you greet when you meet, exchange a few hypocritical courtesies and flattering words, that's all."

"Once利益 is involved,利益 exchange becomes necessary. No one should be vague; no one wants to take a loss."

"Smoothing relationships inevitably costs money, right? That Saint Butterfly Warrior runs around and busies itself; it also has to get a cut, doesn't it? I'm not familiar with that Saint Butterfly Warrior, so we agreed to split the Red Qu Star harvest fifty‑fifty. Half of my gains must go to it."

"By the rules, counting optimistically, if this trip yields one trillion, I can only take five hundred billion in the end. I'm afraid the amount won't be as large as you're expecting."

"Second, you should have heard that I've reorganized many Ant Kings and Bee Kings of the Home Planet's Wave Tree Bay United Kingdom, forming a 'Wave Tree Bay Chamber of Commerce'. This will be a Major Force that indirectly answers to my command."

"At present, the Wave Tree Bay Chamber of Commerce's assets include 228 trees of high‑grade, Dual Superior, Top-Level Wild God-Given Seeds. I've long had a plan: from this trip's harvest, allocate 100 billion, loan it to the Wave Tree Bay Chamber of Commerce, to fund this batch of Wild God-Given Seeds to break through and evolve to the Half Star Realm, accelerating the Chamber of Commerce's development process."

"The Ant Kings and Bee Kings that walked out from the Home Planet have at least 5 God-Given Life Seeds; the strong ones, the lucky ones, with more than ten God-Given Life Seeds are not rare, and among them there's no lack of Top-Level, Dual Superior, high‑grade Divine-Given Seeds.

I also plan to allocate another 100 billion to 200 billion, indirectly loaned to these Ant Kings and Bee Kings via the Wave Tree Bay Chamber of Commerce, prioritizing the Top-Level Divine-Given Seeds to break through and evolve to the Half Star Realm, helping the Wave Tree Bay Ant Kings and Bee Kings quickly pass through their Hibernation development phase."

"To put it even more bluntly: without substantive benefits, which Ant King or Bee King would acknowledge you as Great Leader? They'd just flap their wings and disperse. The reason they do acknowledge it is because everyone has decided that following the Great Leader can secure them a good future, right?"

"Besides that, the Xianglan Mountain Commerce Guild directly under my control also needs to maintain high‑speed development. I still intend, as a Private Bug, to invest and rent another Zero Level Origin Point, hire Trade Union Soldiers to work, provide them employment, and at the same time add a few more Wild God-Given Seeds under my private ownership."

"At this stage, we prioritize development and accumulation."

Dragon Cypress paused for a moment, then said sincerely: "Armor and Starships are both excellent things, priceless treasures. I possess the Purple-Red Technology Star Core, allowing me to unleash almost all of their functions without restriction. I'd like to buy them, but if the price is too low, you certainly won't be happy."

"Conversely, it's the same: you came to me because I can make use of these things—they're useful to me—and in my hands they can be sold for an ideal price, correct?"

"However, everything has an order of priority. For me right now, development comes first, Armor and Starships rank behind that. Armor, also called 'Combat Armor', is an Artifact used for battle, yet in the current Universe environment there's nowhere that actually requires fighting."

"As for Starships, their uses are greater and broader. But at this stage, we're just developing within the Second Level Origin Point of the Sheep Hoof Armor Star System. Most of the time, I'm either guarding Xianglan Mountain or presiding over work at the Zero Level Origin Point. There aren't many places I need to go, and they're not far. Whether 200 times lightspeed or 2000 times lightspeed makes no difference to me. A Leader-Level Starship is certainly useful, but for the next fifty thousand years, it's not essential, not necessary."

When Dragon Cypress finished speaking, he asked: "Captain Upright Lotus, Chickpea, what are your plans?"

Chickpea: "..."

The Mantis was utterly unapologetic in its dark scheming; whatever it was thinking, its two tentacles swayed and practically wrote it all out.

Ants are different: they speak in a restrained, oblique way, well‑reasoned and well‑supported, with strong language skill, going on at length.

Chickpea said: "Purple Cicada, you talk."

Purple Cicada said: "We are adventurers, drifting through Star Space, scraping by year after year with no real plan. If we must say something, right now we intend to find a Second Level Origin Point rich in Origin Force, settle down there with peace of mind, and in the end integrate our existing Abilities, temper our Star Core, and brew a Radiance Transformation. After entering the Radiance Realm, we'll need to spend quite some time in dedicated cultivation, comprehending and condensing 'Trace'."

"We old Spiders have lingered at Stars for up to a million years, first to accumulate Abilities; second to accumulate Evolution Resources needed after entering the Radiance Realm. For Origin Force Life, the ultimate purpose of every action is to evolve to a higher level."

"To be frank, with this venture we've made an enormous windfall. After the Radiance Transformation, if things go smoothly, we'll also consider quickly passing through the Radiance Realm and directly rising to the Morning Realm, digesting the harvest of this trip. That process, in the short case, will take thirty thousand years; in the long case, a hundred thousand years."